


Reality

by Seblainer



Category: Queer as Folk (US)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Future Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-06-12
Updated: 2007-06-12
Packaged: 2019-02-05 15:01:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12796905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seblainer/pseuds/Seblainer
Summary: A day inside Emmett's head.





	Reality

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Haven, the archivist: This story was originally archived at [Fandom Haven Story Archive (FHSA)](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Fandom_Haven_Story_Archive), was scheduled to shut down at the end of 2016. To preserve the archive, I began working with the OTW to transfer the stories to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in November 2017. If you are this creator and the work hasn't transferred to your AO3 account, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Fandom Haven Story Archive collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/fhsa/profile).

Emmett's POV

 

There will come a day, when going to Babylon is no longer fun. When waking up in the morning, and 

getting out of bed, is a chore you have to make yourself do. Not even the black shirt and khaki pants

you slip on can make you smile anymore. After dressing, you grab your keys and head to the diner, not

because you want to, but just because it’s expected of you, and for some reason, you don’t wanna disappoint Debbie. Not after everything that’s happened to her.

 

When you walk into the diner, you expect the place to be crawling with people everywhere, as it usually is. But when you’re only greeted with silence, you remember the last time everyone had gathered together. It was to see Michael off at his funeral. He’s been dead now, for a year, 

though it feels like yesterday, when you received the panicked phone call from Hunter, stating that Michael had been in a car accident, and that he had been confirmed DOA, dead on arrival.

 

As if you don’t know already what it means. Like you haven’t watched enough soaps on daytime television, and seen enough drama with your own eyes, to know that one of your friends is dead, and is never coming back. Like you don’t know you’ll never see his smile light up the room. You will never get to see him sitting down in the diner again, trying to fend off his mother, when she’s trying to make him eat the entire lunch menu of the diner, while complaining that he’s too skinny.

 

You take a seat at some random table, and look up in time to see Brian talking softly to Debbie, who looks angry and happy at the same time. You hear their voices rise, and suddenly Justin’s name is mentioned, and you watch Brian roll his eyes, and say that no, he doesn’t want to call Justin and talk to him. Then Debbie says something else, only you can’t hear what’s being said. But from the look Brian is wearing, it’s not something he wants to hear, and then he tells her so.

 

You play with the sleeve of your black shirt, and wait until they notice you. You know the exact moment they see you. They both stop talking, and Brian takes a seat in the chair across from you, and you’re surprised. Brian has never willingly spent time with you, and if you think that he’s going to start now, then you better go back to bed, and stay in dreamland. Brian grunts a hello, which is the best greeting you’ve ever gotten from him on a good day, so you smile.

 

But the smile is fake. You know it, and he knows it. “What're you doing here so early in the day, Honeycutt?” You let a real smile through this time, though it’s full of sadness. “I always come to the diner, every morning.” You say, and it’s the truth. You can’t stand to imagine Debbie being alone, even though she never really is anymore. Hunter is always around, and he keeps her company, though it’s not the same. It’s never the same, never will be.

 

Brian, who had been staring at the table ever since he sat down, finally meets your eyes, and what you see is completely shocking. You see sadness, pain, and loneliness, things that are breaking Brian’s very soul, things that he would never say aloud, but you know are there because you have known him for years. Before you can stop yourself, you are hugging him, and for the first time ever, he actually lets you, which surprises both of you.

 

However, several moments’ later, when Brian pulls away, you know that his mask is back on. You try to comprehend what’s just happened, while groping for words to say, wanting and needing to try and make him feel better, but knowing it would just be a wasted breath of words, so you remain silent. “Justin doesn’t understand, Ben is dead, Ted is too whiny to talk to, Hunter hasn’t grasped what has happened, and you, well, you’re the only one.”

 

I stare at Brian in surprise. Here he is, giving me a piece of his soul I’m sure only Michael has ever had, and I feel bad for him. It is then that I realize why he acts the way he does, why Michael acted the way that he did. We all have our own devices to hide behind, when the world gets too scary. I glance at Debbie, who’s taking care of a customer, trying to act like everything’s okay, even though it’s not. I turn back to Brian, remembering that this is reality, and to survive, you have to force yourself to go on. Michael would’ve wanted that.

 

The End.


End file.
